Ellis is going after Ablett’s turf

There is one patch of grass on any Australian Rules ground that belongs to Gary Ablett junior.

Not that he hasn’t laid claim to entire arenas, so routinely does he turn in 40-possession games upon them, but even at grounds he’s never visited the few square metres where the boundary line meets the 50-metre arc are synonymous with Ablett.

That’s down to his spitting-image goals from that position at Kardinia Park, one for Geelong in 2009 and the other for Gold Coast last year. Find yourself out there, running full tilt toward the boundary, then produce a 50-metre snap around the body that floats high and home, and you’ve just kicked a goal from the Ablett position.

When Richmond lost to Ablett’s side last week, coach Damien Hardwick singled out Brandon Ellis as an underperformer. Ellis, a midfielder with a passing resemblance to Rutger Hauer, responded against Carlton with a pair of Abletts by just past quarter time. The first covered more distance than the original, struck from beyond the 50 but on a kinder angle. It crashed through the sticks like an attack ship off the shoulder of Orion. The second was a little closer to goal but hard against the boundary line. Ellis turned his body a touch further and weighted it home.

Greater Western Sydney are now box office

In their first two seasons, the last team you’d tune in to see would be the Giants. Another hundred-point belting by a mediocre opponent? No thanks.

This year, they’ve played the match of the round twice in a row. Both they and St Kilda are tipped for low finishes, but their contest was tense, exciting, fast, high scoring, physical, and until the end of the final quarter, skilful.

The sides went goal for goal much of the day and even when St Kilda broke for six in a row the Giants were not cowed. Only poise cost them in the end, going down by seven points after half a dozen pressured misses in the frenzied final minutes. With an upcoming schedule of Melbourne at Spotless, the Bulldogs in Canberra, a currently winless Adelaide, then Gold Coast away, GWS could produce box-office footy for a month to come.

Beware, this ladder is unstable

The start of the year is anomaly time and the ladder looks bizarre next to pre-season predictions. Late Sunday afternoon had a plausible top four of Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Geelong and Hawthorn, but West Coast was played into an open goal by a selfless Melbourne and sprang into top spot with a percentage nudging 260.

St Kilda was supposed to be in for a terrible year, but is undefeated in sixth. And who would have tipped GWS making the eight for even one round? They’ve been up for two now, and as mentioned above, might stay a little longer if they hold their nerve.

North Melbourne and Collingwood were talked up but sit 10th and 12th. As for the final third, we wouldn’t have been surprised to see Melbourne, Carlton, Brisbane or the Western Bulldogs winless, but having Adelaide and the Sydney Swans alongside them wasn’t on the star chart. For those seeking stability in this crazy mixed-up world, at least Richmond is ninth.

Adelaide football is officially fancy

The two Adelaide clubs began a new era in their city’s football when they faced off for the first AFL match at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.

Construction was still under way during the Ashes Test last December, leaving the eastern side of the ground populated by cranes, but now it’s complete, its sail-like roofs making graceful what might have been monolithic. The shiny new grandstands occupy three sides, facing onto the grass hill, fig trees and heritage-listed scoreboard that are part of the ground’s historic appeal.

The Power and the Crows will share the new stadium, while hoping to derive a home-state advantage from its long and narrow shape, while the capacity of 53,000 along with new facilities should be more appealing to crowds. If you can hear something weird out in West Lakes, that’s just the old Football Park quietly crying itself to sleep.

Essendon drama makes Seven more conflicted than interesting

It seems a long time since Tim Lane resigned from Channel Nine in protest at Collingwood president Eddie McGuire commentating his own team’s games.

These days TV commentary is a hot mess of conflicted interests that apparently perturb nobody. The Camerons Mooney and Ling, their playing boots barely cold, hold chummy interviews with former Geelong teammates. Current players on injury breaks are roped into the box. But the strangest has to be Tim Watson covering Essendon games while his son captains them.

Essendon’s 2013 drug scandal saw Watson contort himself: simultaneously concerned parent, media professional, past club champion and James Hird acolyte. A reluctant spokesman, Watson’s "nothing to see here" approach was discredited by other parents and emerging information, casting him as an apologist in the face of widespread ill-will towards the club.

Perhaps then, with a doping investigation ongoing, the season break would have been a good chance for Channel Seven to decide Jobe Watson’s dad should no longer be involved with his matches. Perhaps that need was exacerbated when last week’s drama showed that Hird still refuses to accept fault, and that Essendon will back him regardless. Perception is important.

But no, come Friday night we had Tim on the boundary and Jobe in the middle. Had Essendon held their lead and snuck home, we’d have been in for a nauseating post-game spectacle. Luckily for everyone, Hawthorn’s late winner landed Cyril Rioli on the end of Watson senior’s microphone instead. When the Bombers’ suspended coach one day gives the inevitable tell-all interview, we’ll look forward to a ruthless grilling by Tania Hird.